“This is the murder of a soul,” said VanSickle, who testified before the grand jury. “We don’t have a statute of limitations on the crime of murder. We don’t go after victims . . . and question their ‘repressed memories’ or ‘recovered memories.” Washington Post

I will be posting several posts today to get us caught up with some information on things flying around social media. A church which follows this blog kindly forwarded the link to the grand jury statement of their findings during an investigation on the Catholic Church and pedophile priests.

The response on this story has been overwhelming. However, some ill-informed individuals in the evangelical set have made a dangerous assumption. They claim that it is the rule of celibacy for priests that has led to priests assaulting children.

Let me make this perfectly clear.

Celibacy does not cause pedophilia.

Think about it.

Jesus and Paul were celibate. Many people who do not marry are celibate. Are people implying that they are potential pedophiles?

If a person is normal and he decides to break his priestly vows, he will choose to do so with a consenting adult.

It is not normal for anyone to say “I am going to break my vows by assaulting a 5 year old boy.”

Pedophilia is a profound psychiatric disorder for which there is no cure at this time.

The goal for pedophiles is to never molest. For that to occur, they will need intensive therapy and support for the rest of their lives. Repenting of pedophile behavior does not mean that they are now normal. The yard still at serious risk of reoffending.

Pedophiles seek out professions or activities which bring them into contact with children. They look for institutions that protect them when they molest children.

The Roman Catholic Church has covered up for pedophiles for decades, probably centuries. Pedophiles have intentionally joined religious orders in order to have access to children. I believe the numbers of pedophiles in the Roman Catholic Church is far more than we can even imagine.

Throughout the broader evangelical world, many married pastors with children are pedophiles.

Christa Brown has documented SBC predators for years at Stop Baptist Predators. She has only uncovered the tip of the iceberg. She knows it. I believe that we evangelicals better get ready. Our day is coming, sooner rather than later. Evangelicals will find that marriage, children and divinity school are often sought as covers by predators looking to harm our children. It is time to wise up.

More than 300 Catholic priests across Pennsylvania sexually abused children over seven decades, protected by a hierarchy of church leaders who covered it up, according to a sweeping grand jury report released Tuesday.

The investigation, one of the broadest inquiries into church sex abuse in U.S. history, identified 1,000 children who were victims, but reported that there probably are thousands more.

“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades,” the grand jury wrote in its report.

Trigger warning: Includes examples of sexual abuse

Here is the beginning. It will break your heart.

Will all who comment or read this pray for the light to shine on all churches in all denominations? We must root out this horrific problem to save our children from pain and suffering. We need to wise up and fight this scourge. Remember Matthew 18:6 (NIV). It appears that Jesus is severely warning those who would harm our children. Remember what Jesus said about Judas? He was the devil even though Jesus chose him.Jesus said that it would have been better if he had never been born. This statement by Jesus runs in a similar vein. Pedophilia is evil and it destroys lives.

“If anyone causes one of these little ones–those who believe in me–to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.

That having been said, it’s worth noting that the late Richard Sipe as well as Jason Berry (groundbreaking Catholic reporter on the ’84 Fr. Gilbert Gauthe case in LA) both argued that a culture of sexual secrecy pervades the RC priesthood and hierarchy.

The problem in the RC priesthood (according to Sipe & Berry) isn’t celibacy, per se.

The problem is that the priests’ vows of celibacy are so commonly broken (and even privately winked at), that all sexual behavior in the priesthood gets buried. Add to the mix, the loyalty priests feel to one another, and the obedience they give to their superiors in the hierarchy, which is pretty absolute. (Think McCarrick.)

No priest wants his secret sex life outed (including consensual sex between adults); therefore, there is a code of silence around all sexual behavior in the priesthood. This means that sexually abusive priests’ secrets are also protected, because other sexually active priests’ fear of blackmail is very real.

Laurie Goodstein of the NYT made the same point in a podcast yesterday.

I just found an NBC article that says about 28% of married men have committed adultery. Who knows how accurate that is, but let’s accept it. Now how many married men do you think are attracted to women other than their wives? Pretty near 100%. (Apparently John Piper is an outlier here.) That means for every man who would actually commit adultery there are at least two more who, while tempted at some level, would never do such a thing. That’s because simple sexual attraction does not nullify character. Given how much more destructive and consequential child sexual abuse is, you would think that for every active abuser there must be several people out there who have the same attraction and temptation, right? Seems pretty creepy to me.

This story has been weighing heavy on my heart this whole week. Andrew Klavan (who I don’t always like on politics, but I love his takes on religion), spoke very powerfully about this on his podcast. The impact of the person who claims to represent Jesus to you assaulting, raping, and abusing this way cannot be overstated.

I think institutions will finally stop covering for abusers when every individual member values the safety and well being of any one child over preserving the institution. That’s where my heart is now. No church is worth denying justice to one child.

If a priest truly “surrendered to the priesthood” … if a pastor was truly “called into the ministry” … they don’t behave this way. Daily reports of church leaders who fail morally calls into question religious practices which select and enable men to fill pulpits, particularly the ordination process in both Catholic and Protestant ranks . As Paul wrote “Never be in a hurry to ordain a man, or you may be making yourself responsible for his sins” (1 Timothy 5:22). How many American pulpits are occupied with men who chose to go into the ministry – who selected ministry as a career path – because it provided ready access to victims who trusted them? One thing is for sure, there doesn’t appear to be enough fear of God in church leadership ranks these days … TWW documents that every day.

Ricco: I think institutions will finally stop covering for abusers when every individual member values the safety and well being of any one child over preserving the institution.

Perhaps those who cover abusers within religious systems are more concerned about hiding their own sins rather than preserving the institution. As Eli noted above “… there is a code of silence around all sexual behavior in the priesthood. This means that sexually abusive priests’ secrets are also protected, because other sexually active priests’ fear of blackmail is very real.”

“…….both argued that a culture of sexual secrecy pervades the RC priesthood and hierarchy.
The problem in the RC priesthood (according to Sipe & Berry) isn’t celibacy, per se.
The problem is that the priests’ vows of celibacy are so commonly broken (and even privately winked at), that all sexual behavior in the priesthood gets buried”

Bingo. Glad you clarified that. Sipe was featured in Spotlight which led me to his research. The overall culture of sexual secrecy protected predator priests. I have wondered about the seal of the confessional, too, if any predators had remorse at all. Would that protect them within their ranks? Are priests expected to go to confession?

There was a definite code of protecting and defending CJ Mahaney who presided over a pedophile ring at SGM before fleeing to Al Mohlers arms. . Even promoting him to get his new church going. Now he is SBC.

Lydia: There was a definite code of protecting and defending CJ Mahaney who presided over a pedophile ring at SGM before fleeing to Al Mohlers arms.</blockquote
Don't forget that CJ first fled to Capitol Hill Baptist Church to be with Mark Dever. The T4G "Fab Four" (Mahaney, Mohler, Dever and Duncan) will take care of each other 'til the bitter end. Mohler's wife calls them "Al's little playgroup." How creepy is that?!

Lydia: There was a definite code of protecting and defending CJ Mahaney who presided over a pedophile ring at SGM before fleeing to Al Mohlers arms. . Even promoting him to get his new church going. Now he is SBC.

Don’t forget that CJ first fled to Capitol Hill Baptist Church to be with Mark Dever. The T4G “Fab Four” (Mahaney, Mohler, Dever and Duncan) will take care of each other ’til the bitter end. Mohler’s wife calls them “Al’s little playgroup.” How creepy is that?!

Lydia: There was a definite code of protecting and defending CJ Mahaney who presided over a pedophile ring at SGM before fleeing to Al Mohlers arms. . Even promoting him to get his new church going. Now he is SBC.

The Southern Baptist Convention sent a clear message to Al Mohler regarding his connection with Mahaney/SGM in its 2013 resolution “On Sexual Abuse Of Children”, stating:

“We encourage all denominational leaders and employees of the Southern Baptist Convention to utilize the highest sense of discernment in affiliating with groups and or individuals that possess questionable policies and practices in protecting our children from criminal abuse.”

Really good article that asks tough questions about how Catholic claims that priests have the power to forgive sins and they are the one true church may play into these cover-ups. The idea being, if priests are Christ’s true representatives on earth, and people are scared of hell, then they will stay loyal to the institution so they don’t burn.

As I was reading stories about the passing of Aretha Franklin, I was sadly reminded at how sexual abuse within the evangelical world is nothing new. Aretha’s father was a highly respected Baptist minister, his sermons were recorded and sold millions of copies, he was friends with Martin Luther King, Jr. and became a leader in the Civil Rights movement, but he was also a child molester, who fathered a child with a 12 year old girl in 1940. Even today, though, I have noticed that even the tabloid articles mentioning this fact, do not label him a molester but mention it only as an example of his promiscuity.

Max: The Southern Baptist Convention sent a clear message to Al Mohler regarding his connection with Mahaney/SGM in its 2013 resolution “On Sexual Abuse Of Children”, stating:

“We encourage all denominational leaders and employees of the Southern Baptist Convention to utilize the highest sense of discernment in affiliating with groups and or individuals that possess questionable policies and practices in protecting our children from criminal abuse.”

It didn’t do any good.

Words, words, words… spoken only when it becomes necessary to reassure the membership base to keep those numbers up and the tithes rolling in. The problem, as I see it, is that the type of persons who are ambitious to achieve the highest levels in religious hierarchies are not the type of persons who care about the welfare of children and unimportant people.

Whenever something like this comes out, whether in church circles, or those who use child porn online, or whatever, I am constantly flabberghasted at the numbers involved. Just how many paedophiles do we have in the human population? Are there stats for this somewhere?

And beyond all that, as a child brought up in the Catholic Church this just chills my blood. Not only do there seem to be so many priests who have abused in tandem & groups for years, there seem to be so many sadists amongst them. I really don’t know how to account for that.

Max: How many American pulpits are occupied with men who chose to go into the ministry – who selected ministry as a career path – because it provided ready access to victims who trusted them? One thing is for sure, there doesn’t appear to be enough fear of God in church leadership ranks these days

I have been thinking a lot about this recently. I wonder if those in church leadership apply cheap grace to their own sins. It’s pretty easy to do sonic one is apt at playing word games with Scripture.

Lydia: There was a definite code of protecting and defending CJ Mahaney who presided over a pedophile ring at SGM before fleeing to Al Mohlers arms. . Even promoting him to get his new church going. Now he is SBC.

I have often wondered why these men see a need to *protect* Mahaney? Have you even seen him live? I have. he comes across as dorky and weird. He can cry on cue. He shamelessly flatters his *betters” who appear to be so stupid that they allow him to do so.

We know he threw money at people. I wonder if he also promised to keep secrets?

Jarrett Edwards: he was also a child molester, who fathered a child with a 12 year old girl in 1940. Even today, though, I have noticed that even the tabloid articles mentioning this fact, do not label him a molester but mention it only as an example of his promiscuity.

dee: I wonder if those in church leadership apply cheap grace to their own sins.

Sure, some of them do! You can’t find a better “gospel” to hang your sin on than the grace-this, grace-that, grace-grace-grace message. That’s why we are seeing so many abuses of one sort or another coming from New Calvinist ranks, particularly. Cheap grace prevails.

“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

The Pope received a lot of angry pushback on the scandal in Chile where he defended the guy who protected the molesters (Bishop? )and called stories about him fake news. Not long after he changed his tune.

Me, a nobody, is on record for saying these institutions should just fail. The money dry up. I don’t care if it’s the Roman catholic church or Bob Jones University or Podunk Baptist. I just don’t think they are worth saving.

Jarrett Edwards: Aretha’s father was a highly respected Baptist minister, his sermons were recorded and sold millions of copies, he was friends with Martin Luther King, Jr. and became a leader in the Civil Rights movement, but he was also a child molester, who fathered a child with a 12 year old girl in 1940.

Which is highly interesting in light of the facts that Aretha herself had her first kid at the age of 12, and another at 14! Seems that she came from a subculture where pedophilia was common.

Max:
If a priest truly “surrendered to the priesthood” … if a pastor was truly “called into the ministry” … they don’t behave this way.Daily reports of church leaders who fail morally calls into question religious practices which select and enable men to fill pulpits, particularly the ordination process in both Catholic and Protestant ranks .As Paul wrote “Never be in a hurry to ordain a man, or you may be making yourself responsible for his sins” (1 Timothy 5:22).How many American pulpits are occupied with men who chose to go into the ministry – who selected ministry as a career path – because it provided ready access to victims who trusted them? One thing is for sure, there doesn’t appear to be enough fear of God in church leadership ranks these days … TWW documents that every day.

A reading of the verse cited that appears to go along with the Greek is: “Lay hands on no one hastily, nor share in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.” I don’t get the ‘or else’ you’re responsible for their sins’ takeaway from that.

Nevertheless, the point about caution in ordination is sound, and definitely needs to be prioritized in the evangelical world. This is especially apt when you have the likes of Mohler et al shaping the institutions from which the nascent leaders as it were are being turned out.

dee: I love Nouwen. I had some ill educated fundmentalists go after me because I often quote from Nouwen.

First, I’m not a “fundamentalist” nor any other type of “-ist”. Nor am I one of those you refer to in your comment above that came after you. Just a plain old garden variety Christian. I exercise critical thinking and usually fairly sound judgement with regards to doctrine and people and try to keep an open mind about things. Based on my personal studies over time, my view of Nouwen and his particular spiritual distinctives is a decidedly negative one. So I guess that makes me “ill educated” because I have a different view? You might be well advised to rethink painting folks as “ill-educated” just because they have a different point of view. Now if they came after you in a rude and ill-mannered fashion, devoid of an attitude of appropriate discussion and give-and-take, sure, call them out for that – but thinking differently about something does not automatically mean a person is “ill-educated”.

JDV: “Lay hands on no one hastily, nor share in the sins of others; keep yourself pure.” I don’t get the ‘or else’ you’re responsible for their sins’ takeaway from that.

Some translations render 1 Timothy 5:22 that way. I’m particularly fond of the J.B. Phillips translation of the New Testament. In Phillips, the verse reads:

“Never be in a hurry to ordain a man, or you may be making yourself responsible for his sins. Be careful that your own life is pure.”

The Amplified version reads:

“Do not hurry to lay hands on anyone [ordaining and approving someone for ministry or an office in the church, or in reinstating expelled offenders], and thereby share in the sins of others; keep yourself free from sin.”

In the Living Bible:

“Never be in a hurry about choosing a pastor; you may overlook his sins, and it will look as if you approve of them. Be sure that you yourself stay away from all sin.”

I certainly find women other than my wife attractive, and she has an interesting take on this. As she said to me once: actually, I’m glad you find other women attractive. If you didn’t, it would mean there’s something odd about me!. Thing is: 1) I also find her attractive, as much now after many years of marriage. If not more. And 2), there is nothing attractive about throwing away or jeopardising our life together, and the idea of actually committing adultery with anyone is as appealing as the idea of sawing my own arm off.

I saw a snippet of a documentary, years and years ago, about a middle-aged man who was attracted to young boys. He was open, both about that attraction, and about his certainty that he could not, ever, pursue that attraction. Other than that, I’ve really not come across much information on that kind of person: i.e., someone who is neurologically a paedophile, but who does not prey on children. As in, keeps himself (more rarely, herself) well away from them. But they evidently exist, and it’s not surprising that they do.

I think Dee was being specific about those fundamentalists who have come after her, rather than it being necessary for you to extrapolate this comment out to include yourself.

Dee is quite capable of allowing others to hold opinions she herself doesn’t hold, as long as those people are not insisting for various reasons that her disagreement is based on all kinds of nonsense that she must agree with, such as ‘because he wasn’t a fundie everything he says is therefore spiritually suspect’. I’ve heard similar arguments against anyone who uses the very ancient Christian spiritual practice of Christian meditation, because it doesn’t fit fundie theology, because it ‘sounds’ buddhist, & because they (the individuals I have interacted with) are absolutely ignorant of the Church Fathers &/or the first 1500 years of the church.
I personally love Noewen, & find him insightful & learned in how to love others in the pursuit of loving God.

Maybe ask Dee what she means by a comment you find jarring, rather than responding as if to an attack first & foremost?

twosideses:
most of the victims are not 5 years old. They’re teenage boys

That makes it EHEBEPHILIA, i.e. “Hot for Jail Bait”.
And same-sex Ehebephiles self-identify and arouse as Gay, not Straight like same-sex Pedos.
(And as one non-Christian I knew said about the subject many years ago, “Vow of Celibacy applies both straight and gay.”)

P.S. I heard somewhere (no provenance or source) that you tend to be attracted to those who are a similar physical age as your emotional/psychological age. Given the epidemic of arrested development cases and delayed adulthood we have today, I’m not surprised that Ehebephilia has become common. (The only difference between this and the 60-something stud with the 18-year-old trophy wife is legal age of consent.)

Lydia: Siteseer,
The Pope received a lot of angry pushback on the scandal in Chile where he defended the guy who protected the molesters (Bishop? )and called stories about him fake news. Not long after he changed his tune.

More like when the Pope found out the accusations he dismissed as “slander” turned out to be true, Pope went through the ceiling. Summoned ALL the Chilean bishops to Rome for a “closed door session” that lasted a couple days, and when the doors opened again, three of them were no longer Bishops.

Max: The Southern Baptist Convention sent a clear message to Al Mohler regarding his connection with Mahaney/SGM in its 2013 resolution “On Sexual Abuse Of Children”, stating:
“We encourage all denominational leaders and employees of the Southern Baptist Convention to utilize the highest sense of discernment in affiliating with groups and or individuals that possess questionable policies and practices in protecting our children from criminal abuse.”

Max: Don’t forget that CJ first fled to Capitol Hill Baptist Church to be with Mark Dever. The T4G “Fab Four” (Mahaney, Mohler, Dever and Duncan) will take care of each other ’til the bitter end. Mohler’s wife calls them “Al’s little playgroup.” How creepy is that?!

I think I mentioned “arrested development cases” above regarding Ehebephilia.

Indeed you did. Some things cannot be discussed in this venue, but some catholic venues including at least one bishop who has been quoted by the secular media recently, are expressing concerns that do not qualify for the word ‘pedophilia’. IMO the catholics understand this better than the protestants who sometimes view catholic problems from limited information.

IMO, first we have to identify the problem(s), get the ‘diagnoses’ accurate, and only then begin to discuss remediation of the situation(s) which may contribute to the problems. And there do seem to be multiple variables, all of which probably need revisited.

Thank you for this. As a single, even as a female, I get tired of being treated like I must be a child molester waiting to happen. I also get tired of single men who are really towing the line and staying celibate as Christians being treated like child molesters waiting to happen.

I remember reading a Dave Hunt book many years ago (A Woman Rides the Beast–yeah, that one) where he stated that the reason both the single women (nuns) and single men (priests) were so outrageously depraved (largely during a time long past of some of the really bad Popes who partied hard Animal House style) was because they weren’t married.

He actually made me cry. Like, if I don’t hurry up and get married, then I’m bound to be some depraved sex maniac. The stigma with being single really hurts. And it made me wonder, is that how people at church really see me?

Thank you for setting the record straight. It’s not being single or married that will determine whether a person will remain chaste in both actions and in mind, but whether they fear God and love Him. It’s a heart matter, and child molesters only care for power and control in the most perverse way. They have perverted hearts. Period. Maybe a few aren’t so far gone that they can’t have a heart change, but the road to recovery will be long, and if they are sincerely sorry then they won’t expect access to children ever again.

As a Catholic, who studied theology at a small Evangelical college, I believe that the Evangelical church is much sicker than Catholic priest scandal. Evangelical churches rely heavily on children and youth ministries, whereas the Catholic church relies upon Mass. (Yes, both can have schools, but that is a separate matter.) When you go into most Evangelical churches, parents are pressured to place their children into the children’s ministry. While background checks are conducted, most abusers know how to skirt these issues. And, then there is the almighty youth pastor. A number of evangelical churches live and die by their teen ministries; what if the most beloved youth minister abused a few kids? In the Catholic church, families attend Mass as a family unit, and the only time they are around the Priest is when the Eurachrist is given and maybe a couple minutes at the beginning/end of the Mass to say “Hello” or “Good-bye.” Most parishes have volunteers who now staff the alter ensuring altar girls/boys are not left alone. Parish religious education starts at the age of 6 in most parishes, not 0, where kids have some wisdom between right and wrong. The major factor is between Children’s Church and Religious Education is that one takes place when mom and dad is away in a service, and the other is before/after service, and a worried parent can volunteer.

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